A highlight of this After Dark evening was Thee Oh Sees, one of the Bay Area’s best underground bands, who created a playful aural disorientation while playing in front of “visual music” by the late experimental filmmaker and musicologist Harry Smith.

Science of Cocktails presented the artistry of master mixologists shaken with the science behind the craft. Taking an in-depth, interactive look at the physics, chemistry, and biology of cocktails, this first-time Exploratorium fundraiser engaged guests in an exploration of their favorite libations like they've never experienced before.

This After Dark event featured a special installation of the Cubatron by Bay Area artist and engineer Mark Lottor. A visually stunning favorite of music and art festival audiences, the Cubatron is a 3–D light sculpture made from 8–x–8-foot modular cubes, each containing 1,000 individually programmable RGB LEDs. Viewed from any direction—even underneath—the Cubatron’s thousands of programmed pixels paint exquisite arrays of color that cascade in spectacularly dynamic patterns.

As a special event in conjunction with the 2009 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, we connected a live audience at the Exploratorium with scientists at the South Pole. Learn about atmospheric research at the South Pole from NOAA's Nick Morgan, the IceCube neutrino detector from Mark Krasberg and Laura Gladstone, and the South Pole Telescope from Bill Holzapfel.

See slow-motion footage of flames licking through ice during a demonstration by Eric Muller of the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute. Can you guess what he added to the bottom of the vessel before lighting it?

Slow motion footage of Pyrograph, a work by Earl "Dodger" Stirling that has been described as a cross between Dante's Inferno and the Foucault Pendulum. Like a fiery version of the Exploratorium's classic Drawing Board exhibit, Pyrograph swings a pendulum across a sandy, flaming cauldron and traces out oscillating patterns in colorful fire.

In November 2009, Exploratorium After Dark welcomed particle physicist Dr. Austin Richards—aka Dr. MegaVolt. Under the Palace of Fine Arts rotunda, he jousted with a high-voltage Tesla coil, which generated 200,000 volts of electricity and shot 14-foot-long arcs of lightning through the air.

This electrifying After Dark event featured Austin Richards, Ph.D.—aka, Dr. MegaVolt®—jousting with 14-foot electrical arcs from his high-voltage Tesla coil on the evening of Thursday, November 5, 2009. This wonderful performance contributed to the celebration of the Exploratorium’s 40th Anniversary.

Webcasts made possible through
the generosity of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Jim Clark
Endowment for Internet Education, the McBean Family Foundation,.and the Corporation for Educational Networks Initiatives in California (CENIC).